Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Frugivory interactions are essential ecological processes for the regeneration of tropical forests, ensuring ecosystem resilience following disturbances. However, little is known about how frugivory interactions are shaped by anthropogenic disturbances, especially in Amazonia – one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth. We investigate how selective logging and forest fires impact both arboreal and terrestrial frugivory interactions in Amazonian forests. We focus on four forest classes: Undisturbed, Logged, Logged‐and‐17y‐burned (burned 17 years before sampling) and Logged‐and‐3y‐burned (burned three years before sampling). We recorded 4670 frugivory interactions at the community level, in a sampling effort of 31 484 h. Undisturbed forests sustained a significantly higher number of species and interactions when compared to Logged‐and‐17y‐burned forests, and similar numbers to Logged and Logged‐and‐3y‐burned. Selective logging and forest fires did not alter significantly the structural properties of the frugivory networks, which were highly modular, moderately specialised, poorly connected and non‐nested. Regarding community composition, we detected high β‐diversity of plant species, frugivore species, and their interactions between all study areas, as well as within and between forest classes, mainly driven by species turnover. Logged‐and‐17y‐burned forests hosted the most unique interaction composition compared to Undisturbed forests. Our study provides novel evidence that anthropogenic disturbances, particularly selective logging and forest fires, negatively affect frugivory interactions in Amazonian forests. These effects may persist for years after the initial disturbance events and could be exacerbated due to the predicted increase in forest fires driven by climate change.
Source: Oikos
DOI: 10.1002/oik.10831
Institutions: Manchester Metropolitan University, Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), Cornell University, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, University of Oxford, Lancaster University, Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Universidade Federal do Pará, University of Bristol
Language: English
Topic: Plant and animal studies
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,640
Funders: UK Research and Innovation, Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, BNP Paribas Cardif, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Medical Research Council, Natural Environment Research Council, Fondation BNP Paribas
Awards: G1359377947, Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in degraded and recovering Amazonian and Atlantic forests, Longer-term responses of Amazonian vegetation to fire, G1627233817, G1840770272, G2062933531, G2584274330, G2983581761, G3345895242, G3364820047, G3477743816, G3583378789, G3813924747, G3914732244, G4149604409, Evaluating fire-induced dieback of Amazonian rainforest, G5200946862, Trade-offs between biodiversity conservation and economic development in tropical forests, Drivers and impacts of insect biodiversity changes across pantropical forests, G7671349560, G7753461302, G8936367383
OpenAlex ID: W4409573722